Sometime back I was writing to a friend about loading some 270 Berger hunting VLD's and he mentioned that the hornady SST showed better specs than the Berger VLD's on the Ballistic Calculator. I didn't say anything but I didn't really agree either. Looking at the berger hunting VLD and the Hornady SST I just couldn't see that being true and wasn't sure how he came to that conclusion.

Well, tonight I got to looking at Hornady's specs online for loaded Superformance 270 140 gn SST amo. The specs hornady touts say's 3090 FPS at the muzzle will net you 2187 FPS and has 1487 Foot lbs at 500 yrds. I hadn't see a published BC for that round so I started plugging numbers into their own ballistic calculator. I used the 3090 for MV etc and tried different BC's till I came up with .494 which gave me the numbers they tout at 500 yrds.
Berger says the BC of their .277 Hunting VLD has a BC of .487 so now I see where my friend got the idea that the SST's have a higher BC.

Am I alone in thinking the Burgers look so much more streamlined and aerodynamic? Is Hornady actually correct on the BC? Any thoughts on this out there? Thanks, Terry

Thanks T3-OleMan, The Berger definitely won that BC match between the 277 and 6.5, and I may not have explained it well, but I was trying to compare .277 bullets to each of other of equal weight since my friend shoots a 270 winchester. So I was trying to keep the comparison between apples and apples.

I wanted to load something in a 277 bullet that would probably fly a little better than what he had used in the past and suggested the Berger VLD.
I just felt the Bergers look so much more streamlined with the long nose and long boat tail. I wasn't sure if maybe Hornady was super hyping their bullet or if it actually had the BC they suggest?

I shot a pile of both and prefer the Berger, the Berger shot much better and had much better terminal performance across the effective range of the rifle. I'm very hesitant to slam an SST into an elk. The tip on the SST will really help BC, I was really hoping they would shoot for me cause the would make a good bullet out at the end of the effective range since it will open so easy.

Thanks T3-OleMan, The Berger definitely won that BC match between the 277 and 6.5, and I may not have explained it well, but I was trying to compare .277 bullets to each of other of equal weight since my friend shoots a 270 winchester. So I was trying to keep the comparison between apples and apples.

I wanted to load something in a 277 bullet that would probably fly a little better than what he had used in the past and suggested the Berger VLD.
I just felt the Bergers look so much more streamlined with the long nose and long boat tail. I wasn't sure if maybe Hornady was super hyping their bullet or if it actually had the BC they suggest?

But getting back to this post I guess I was looking for someone to agree that the present 140gn 277 VLD might be a better choice and have better BC. I guess you kinda said that in a round about way though.

I haven't fired off but a few SST's and never hunted with them but in reading articles by folks like Chuck Hawks they don't appear to be the bullet of choice for heavier game.

Also Biggreen, did you have any trouble getting the SST's to group well? I know the bergers I have shot will fly well but generally not till you figure out how far to set them from the lands.

Terry

Last edited by Roughwater; 05-23-2012 at 05:15 PM.
Reason: To reply to the correct person